SALT LAKE CITY — Ashlee Loscher-Curtis has a rod in her femur and damage to one of her knees after being hit in a crosswalk with her 4-year-old son, Holden.
When the man accused of driving drunk hit them, she was thrown into the pavement and scraped up. Her son was killed on impact.
“A broken femur is a long recovery but definitely it will get easier day by day,” she said. “The physical pain will go away, but losing your own child is not something that will ever, ever go away.”
On Nov. 16 at 11 a.m., the two were in the crosswalk at 900 West and California Avenue. It was just supposed to be a quick little walk and Holden wanted to take his bike.
Carl “CJ” Wayne Johnson, 56, was on an outing of his own. He told police he had a couple of 12-ounce beers at work two hours earlier.
The man’s vehicle hit the mother and son as he was making a turn in his GMC truck. On Friday, he was charged in 3rd District Court with automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, and DUI with serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony. Prosecutors, in charging documents, noted that Johnson has a history of impaired driving.
“I am not mad. I am hurt,” said Loscher-Curtis. “ I am definitely not mad. People make mistakes. Someone chose to get up in the morning, get drunk and get into his car.”
As she recovers from her physical injuries, the grieving mother is holding onto her memories of Holden as fiercely as she can. She said he was a happy child, smiling constantly and dazzling everyone around him with his dimples.
One of their favorite activities was to go on dates.
“He’d ask for my debit card so he could pay the waiter at the restaurant,” she said.
People would often ask her about the struggles of being a single parent, but she said it was joy being a mother to Holden.
“I’d tell them, ‘I got lucky. I got a really good kid.’”
She said people ask her how they can help her in this time of grief and she tells them to love and support her, but to also hug their children.
“You never know,” she said between tears. “Four years is such a short time.”
A GoFundMe account was set up to help cover the costs of Holden’s funeral. Another GoFundMe account was established to help his mother with medical expenses.